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Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. Walter White's name is reminiscent of the poet, a fact that has played a major role as a plot device in Breaking Bad and used up to the mid-season finale of season five. Season 4 Gale Boetticher had given Walt a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, a collection of poems, which has been seen several times since. Prior to giving this gift, Boetticher, an avid Whitman fan, recites "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer", one of the poems found in Leaves of Grass. In the episode , Hank Schrader finds the initials W.W. written in Boetticher's notes, and jokes with Walt that they are his initials, although Walt quickly attributes them to Whitman. Season 5 In the episode , Walt finds his copy of Leaves of Grass as he is packing up his bedroom, briefly smiles and leaves the book out to read. When Walt discovers the book, he is at an especially high time in his life, where he feels that things are coming together and he is succeeding in all ventures. A poem in the book, "Song of Myself", is based on many of these same feelings, furthering the connection between Walt's life and Whitman's poetry. The season five mid-season finale is named after poem 271 of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. In that episode, Hank finds a copy of Leaves of Grass in Walt's bathroom and opens it to the cover page where he finds the inscription :"To my other favorite W.W. It's an honour working with you. Fondly G.B." Upon reading that, Hank becomes visibly shocked. The episode ends immediately after. In the antepenultimate episode , a subtle reference is made to Walt Whitman and his poem 'The Dalliance of the Eagles' . As the hit man Jack Welker points a gun at Jesse Pinkman's head, he looks up and sees two eagles gliding above him, possibly in reference to the imagery in Whitman's poem. This is also possibly in reference to the "Spotted hawk" from verse 52 of Whitman's poem 'Song of Myself.' In the final episode , Jesse lets out a "barbaric yawp" of his own when escaping White Supremacist Compound, mirroring Whitman's words from the same verse, which are also referenced in . :"The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains : of my gab and my loitering. :I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, :'' I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."'' ''--''Walt Whitman, Song of Myself LabNotes3.png|Page 3 from Gale Boetticher's lab notes. C-B0Quc1rGfasa4yZFDPdn0BI4KTRiDbCEl_5iwG2IE.jpg|A Walt Whitman Jeopardy! question from the episode Half Measures In the episode , Walt and Walt Jr. are watching Jeopardy! when Alex Trebek announces the question as "A Loud, Harsh Cry; Walt Whitman's was "Barbaric"", in which case Walt Jr. guesses that it's a yell, however Walt now having a connection with Gale Boetticher confirms the answer as Yawp, referencing once again Gale's meaning in the story.Category:Symbolism Category:Miscellaneous